Top 10’s Paul Menard Quietly Goes About His Business
By Daryle Hier
Personalities are important to the press, fans and marketers. However, notoriety and celebrity don’t always translate to success on the track. Paul Menard is one of those guys who goes about the business of racing and doesn’t promote his own persona. The low profile appears to be working well for the 32 year old from Wisconsin.
March 23, 2013; Fontana, CA, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Paul Menard (27) speaks with crew members during practice for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
His father
On the surface, judging by his bio, you might think Menard is a flashy, well-spoken and slick character that is comfortable in front of the camera and looking for the limelight. Afterall, he is the son of a very successful businessman, John Menard. John is a self-made billionaire who founded home improvement chain Menards (source: Milwaukee Magazine). John grew up on a farm and as an young entrepreneur, worked his way into building hardware stores. John is a somewhat brash personality who took his love of intrepid marketing to motorsports with a full scale race team, actually winning a couple IndyCar championships.
In the meantime, born and raised in a place that is more known for its horseradish than racing, a much more reserved Paul Menard earned a college degree at the local university (UW Eau Claire) while spending time driving sports cars. After first taking up karting as a youngster, Paul then drove late models and sports cars before moving on to stock cars in ARCA. At the same time, he raced Trucks and Busch (now Nationwide) in NASCAR, finally becoming a full-time driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc (DEI) in the Busch series (2005). All along, he had the backing of his father’s company, Menards, as a sponsor.
Finally a winner
Paul was finally victorious in the Busch series in ’06 before moving up to full-time Sprint Cup in 2007 for DEI. Menard didn’t have much success in his first couple of Cup seasons and some questioned whether he even belonged or deserved to be racing in NASCAR. Tony Stewart, who actually drove and won the ’97 championship driving for John Menard during his IndyCar career, infamously said after some on-track incidences with Paul (source: ESPN),
"“You can have your father buy your ride and write DEI a big check, but you can’t buy talent. And that’s what John Menard’s been good at his whole life, is just buying success. He’s bought his son a Nextel Cup ride and he’s just got enough talent to just be in the way most of the time.”"
In 2009, Menard left to join Yates Racing but the team did poorly, often struggling to earn top 20s. Doug Yates merged his operation with Richard Petty in 2010 and with the help of crew chief Slugger Labbe, Paul improved, garnering six Top 10s during the season including a runner-up at Talladega. Both moved over to Richard Childress Racing (RCR) in 2011 with Menard getting his career best points position of 17th. Yet, maybe more importantly, Paul earned his first Cup win at no less than Indianapolis Motor Speedway – something his father’s teams could never do.
Always improving
Last season, Menard moved up one spot in the final standings and this year, he and Labbe have quietly been churning out Top 20s while moving up into the Top 10. The #27 Menard Chevrolet sits eighth after 12 races this year and that was enough to earn him an extension on his contract with RCR (source: USA Today).
Menard has improved his position in the points every season since 2009. In his seventh year competing full-time in the Sprint Cup series, it looks like he’s found a home at RCR. His teammates are veterans Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick, though Harvick will be leaving at season’s end. With Burton nearing the end of his career and not performing very well at all, it seems Menard may becoming the team leader at RCR.
You won’t hear complaints, whining or much of anything from him since he’s a down-to-earth kind of person and to that point, Menard doesn’t appear to be the type who would take the reins and run with it. However, if Menard continues to improve, he could be a Chase contender and maybe he can lead by example. Regardless, the mild-mannered driver will be in the thick of the NASCAR Sprint Cup battle, proving every day that he deserves to be in NASCAR and quite possibly does have the ‘talent’ to compete with the best … Tony Stewart included.
Additional sources: Team Menard, NASCAR
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